8:55 p.m. — UAlbany update from the Board of Elections

I’ve got an update on the situation at the University at Albany via Albany County Republican Elections Commission Rachel Bledi, who said county elections officials are in for a long road reviewing all the affidavit ballots filed.

Bledi also acknowledged that the huge number of paper ballots could delay knowing who wins the 46th Senate District contest between Republican George Amedore and Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk, depending — of course — on how close that race ends up being.

Bledi said many of the downstate students who voted by paper ballot claimed to be covered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order allowing downstate voters to vote anywhere in the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

She also addressed the question of why all students were voting at a central location, rather than separate polling places like in past years — cited by some on the scene as the cause of some of the confusion. The reason, she said, is that some of the old polling sites are under construction.

Here’s Bledi’s full explanation:

“Essentially what happened is that hundreds of students showed up to vote who were either not registered to vote or were registered in other counties, including downstate.

The problem is that many voted affidavit claiming to have fallen under the jurisdiction of the Governor’s executive order. It will be a long process reviewing all the affidavits that were voted. (Democratic Elections Commissioner) Matt (Clyne) and I went over there and I started working the line, directing them to the appropriate polling station.

By 7 p.m. we had the situation under control and the line cleared. We have so many students voting that we will have to set up a computerized system that will enable us to look them up statewide. We had to move the sites to campus center because some of the previous polling areas are under construction.”

2 Responses

I guess the kiddies couldn’t wait 4 month lead for Kegs ‘n’ Eggs. A good case for requiring them to vote from their permanent addresses (i.e., absentee ballots). They should be smart enough to figure out the process.